Is everyone ready for Thanksgiving? I'm definitely not.  Growing up as an only child in a family that wasn't super gung-ho over celebrating holidays; I've felt a bit overwhelmed during the holiday season ever since I started dating Mr.S.  He has a big family that's really nice, but the holidays always feel a bit chaotic to me when I'm there. There's a lot of people in his house during Thanksgiving and Xmas, a lot of noise and kids running amuck.  Up until this year, I could skip events and just duck home to the cottage if I needed a breather but now that I live with Mr.S I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle it all.  I think the panic of the holidays must have already started to show a little on my face because Mr. S suggested we get out of town for a night. So the day after Thanksgiving we're going to duck out and decompress. I'm looking forward to it. ☺

I hadn't planned on doing a post for the Hawaiian Mac Salad that I made on Sunday, but after I posted about the Kalua pig, I got about a dozen emails requesting the recipe for the macaroni salad I made to go with it.

Note, for those who haven't had it before-  Hawaiian Mac Salad is not your normal macaroni salad from the deli counter. It's tangier and sweeter, the mayo is thinned out by milk and its only extra ingredients are grated carrot, sliced scallions and small bits of celery. Also, you have to use real mayo to make this, not the lowfat stuff or Miracle Whip (gack!).

The recipe I use is from Cook's Country Magazine, from a printing that I clipped from a Bay Area paper a few years ago. It most closely replicates the Hawaiian macaroni salads I ate while on vacation in Hawaii.

Give it a go...Hawaiian Mac Salad is the perfect accompaniment for a plate lunch of Kalua pig, Huli Huli chicken or your favorite BBQ dish.



2 cups whole milk, divided
2 cups mayonnaise, divided (I like to use Best Foods Real Mayonnaise)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 pound macaroni elbows
1/2 cup cider vinegar
4 scallions, sliced thin
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 celery rib, chopped fine

Instructions

2. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta and cook until very soft, about 15 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot. (You want the pasta to be fat and soft, not al dente)

3. Add vinegar and toss until absorbed. Transfer to a bowl. Cool pasta, then stir in dressing until well-coated. Cool completely. (Don't worry, the macaroni will absorb the dressing)

4. To assemble salad, add scallions, carrot, celery, remaining milk and remaining mayonnaise to pasta mixture and stir to combine. Season to taste. Refrigerate covered for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. Serves 8 people.

The Olympics are over, the State Fair has come and gone and now the kidlets are getting ready to go back to school (I'm excited about that, them not so much). Doesn't it seem like summer just flew by? Well, if you'd rather squeeze in one more trip to Osaka-ya for snowcones or sip on some Moscow Mules while watching Shark Week on cable then engage in some heavy-duty cooking, here's an easy recipe you can throw together in a flash. Remember that pesto we made awhile back? Pull it out of the freezer because you're going to need it.



Orzo Salad with Pesto and Feta
makes about 3 servings

Ingredients

1 cup orzo

3/4 cup homemade pesto

3 tablespoons sun dried tomato slices (or fresh, chopped tomatoes)

3-4 tablespoons sliced black olives (or halved Kalamata olives)

4 tablespoons feta


Instructions

1. Cook orzo according to package instructions. Drain.

2. Mix in pesto. Place orzo in the fridge to cool.

3. Once cool- add in tomatoes, olives and feta. Mix well.

4. Serve.

5. See, how easy was that? Now go grab that snowcone, Shark Week's starting to get GOOD!

Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles are a staple in the cupboards at my cottage. They're so versatile. During the summertime, I use them to make zaru soba and in the winter, I usually toss them in some hot tsuyu with a few veggies and some tempura. For potlucks though, I like to make a soba salad. It's quick to make, easy to double and super refreshing on a hot day.

Japanese Soba Salad

Ingredients

6 oz. Japanese soba (buckwheat noodles)
4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, chopped thinly
1/2 orange or yellow bell pepper, cored and chopped
6-8 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup shelled, cooked edamame

1/2 cup lite soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Sriracha
toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add noodles, cook for 4-5 minutes on high heat. Empty into a colander, rinse several times with cold water then drain well. Set aside.

2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine: soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, lemon juice, ginger, garlic and Sriracha. Mix together well.

3. In a large bowl, combine: noodles, shiitakes, green onions, bell pepper, tomatoes and edamame. Mix together.

4. Pour dressing over the noodle mixture. Toss gently. Place in refrigerator to chill for at least 20-30 minutes.

5. Toss again before serving. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy cold.

Ok, I lied to you. I know I said I was going to give the David Chang recipes a rest- buuuuuuut I ended up with a ton of scallions this week and needed to do something with them so I threw together some of his ginger scallion sauce. I ended up pairing it with some soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) I had laying around in the cupboard and it was absolutely delish. I definitely recommend it unless you hate scallions or hate ginger because this tastes like a whole lotta both. It's also a great sauce to make because it keeps for a few days in the fridge and you can integrate it into all kinds of dishes- chicken, rice, seafood.... Just remember to have an Altoid on hand afterwards because this sauce will definitely leave you with some pungent breath.

Ginger Scallion Sauce (adapted from "Momofuku" by David Chang and Peter Meehan)

Ingredients

2 bundles of dried soba

2 bunches of fresh scallions

1/2 cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger

1/4 cup grapeseed oil

1 1/4 teaspoon usukuchi (or a reduced sodium light soy sauce)

3/4 teaspoon mirin*

3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon sugar (optional)

toasted sesame seeds, for garnish


Instructions

1. Thinly slice the scallions (whites and greens).

2. In a bowl, mix together the sliced scallions, ginger, oil, usukuchi, mirin and salt. Allow it to sit about 20 minutes so the flavors can meld. (Note: Don't skip the waiting period, it does make a difference in the taste.)

3. After 20 minutes, taste. Add more salt if necessary or if it's too salty for you, you can add 3/4 teaspoon of sugar.

4. Boil some buckwheat noodles (about 4-5 minutes). Drain noodles and rinse with cold running water.

5. Mix buckwheat noodles with ginger scallion sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

6. Store the leftover sauce in an airtight container and place in fridge.

* The original recipe calls for sherry vinegar, I didn't have any on hand and mirin worked fine as a substitute.

I can't believe the weekend is over...for once it was a nice, quiet weekend that didn't involve rushing from one end of town to the other. Mr.S. had the kidlets so we hung out, watched movies, went to the farmers market and played outside. I know I'm trying to enjoy the cooler, sunny weather now because I'm sure Sacramento's scorching summer is just around the corner (ugh!). We went for a few walks down by the river on Sunday and even took Kidlet #2 geocaching. I'd never been on a geocache before and it was kind of neat...it's like a mini-treasure hunt using a special GPS app on the iPhone. We actually found the "cache" during our excursion, which turned out be a tiny camo micro capsule with a log inside (some caches are larger and may contain a trinket or two). We signed our names and returned the capsule to it's hiding spot. Can't wait until we go again!




Later still on the lazy train, I didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking for dinner but wanted something healthy...so I decided to use one of the beautiful avocados I had on the counter to make a simple avocado pasta. The avocado sauce has a nice creamy texture that tastes rich and the basil and lemon give it a nice zesty zing. If you want to make it gluten-free like I did, you can use quinoa pasta.  Also, if you want to jazz it up a bit you could sprinkle some Parmesan cheese, halved grape tomatoes or sliced almonds on it.


Lazy Weekend Avocado Pasta (recipe adapted from Oh She Glows)

Ingredients

1 medium sized ripe avocado, pitted

1/2 lemon, juiced, plus  lemon zest to garnish

2-3 garlic cloves, minced (to taste)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup fresh basil

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 servings (about 6 oz) quinoa pasta

freshly ground black pepper

Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)


Instructions

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add quinoa pasta and cook for 7-9 minutes (or per package instructions).

2. While the pasta is cooking: in a food processor, add the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, basil, avocado and salt. Process until you have a nice, creamy sauce. You may need to scrape the sides a few times to make sure everything gets blended well, the basil likes to stick.

3. When the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse noodles. Place pasta in a bowl and add avocado sauce. Toss well. Then plate.

4. Season with fresh ground pepper and garnish with a sprinkling of lemon zest. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (optional).

5. Serve immediately. (Note: This is not a good "reheat dish," since it has avocado in it.)


Makes 2 servings

Lately I've been fascinated with ravioli. Not the meat-stuffed Chef Boyardee kind but rather homemade ravioli stuffed with veggies. I've been picking up fresh wonton wrappers at the Mei Mei Noodle Factory (the #7 dumpling wrapper) and making fillings from seasonal vegetables at the farmers' market. It's pretty fun to do and you can churn quite a few out in a short while and freeze them. I froze mine in small Tupperware containers and have been pulling them out for weeknight meals when I'm too tired to cook (or just too lazy and would rather watch Mad Men and The Good Wife). One of my favorite flavors I've made so far is beet and ricotta. The roasted beets have a slightly sweet flavor so they taste great paired with a quick butter and sage sauce.

                              "The beet is the most intense of vegetables" -Tom Robbins

Beet & Ricotta Ravioli  (recipe adapted from Bon Appetit)

Ingredients

2 large red beets   * do not use canned

1/2 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs

~100 fresh wonton rounds for full circle raviolis


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap beets individually in foil; place on baking sheet. Roast until tender (about 1 hour). Open foil and allow beets to cool. Slip off beet skin (you may want to wear latex gloves as the beet juice does stain).

2. Using a grater, finely grate the beet into a medium bowl. Add ricotta cheese, mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in breadcrumbs.

3. Place a small bowl of water next to your work surface. Lay out a few wonton rounds on your work surface and spoon about 1 teaspoon of beet filling onto the middle of each round. Dip fingertip into water and dampen edge of 1 round, all the way around. Place another round over the filling, pushing out as much air as possible and pressing edges firmly to seal. Repeat with remaining rounds. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and place in freezer until frozen solid, about 6 hours. Transfer ravioli to resealable plastic bags or airtight containers.)

3. To Cook: Working in batches, cook ravioli in large pot of boiling water until cooked through (usually the ravioli will float to the top), about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ravioli from the water and place on a plate. Top with sauce and cheese.

Butter and Sage Sauce (recipe adapted from Mario Batali)
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

8 sage leaves, chopped

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)


Instructions

1. While your pasta cooks, melt butter in a saute pan and continue cooking until golden brown color appears in the thinnest liquid of the butter.

2. Add sage leaves and remove from heat. Add lemon juice.

3. Gently pour over ravioli. Sprinkle on the cheese and serve immediately.

When one of your nicest friends asks if you want to come to her annual birthday dinner at her family's vineyard to suck back wine and make something called CHEESE BUTTONS, what do you do? You immediately pull on your pants with the stretchy waistband and pack enough Lactaid pills to outfit a world-class army and respond, "You betcha, what time?" Turns out my friend Cate's family has a tradition of making the Volga German delicacy of Kase Knoepfla (aka "cheese buttons") every year in celebration of her birthday. Everyone helps out with making the cheese buttons, even the tiny nieces.





When it was time to eat, Cate's mom served the big group of us up the cheese buttons (which look more like pillows or raviolis than buttons) in two manners- 1) boiled, topped with breadcrumbs and sour cream and 2) fried also served with breadcrumbs and sour cream. After all, can you ever go wrong with breadcrumbs and sour cream? If you don't have any dietary restrictions, go for the latter...trust me, the fried cheese buttons are so unbelievably amazing...hot and savory on the inside, the perfect crunchiness on the outside...you will won't be able to control the corners of your mouth from turning up in a huge smile. For our dinner, the cheese buttons were served up with delicious sausages and homemade beer mustard, perfectly cooked cabbage and a refreshing cucumber and dill salad...and lots and lots of wine!


(I apologize that my final photo came out a tad fuzzy due to the steam radiating off the dish, but had I waited for the dish to cool all of the cheese buttons would have been gone...and that of course would have been no bueno.)


Cheese Buttons (aka Kase Knoepfla)  (recipe courtesy of Cate Schmiedt)
serves 6-8

Ingredients

2 cups warm water

1 tsp salt

3 eggs, separated

6-7 cups flour all purpose

3 cups Farmer’s cheese (very small curd dry cottage cheese)

Bunch green onion tops chopped into small pieces

Loaf of bread torn into small chunks

LOTS of butter

Sour cream


Instructions

1. In a bowl add the warm water and salt. Gradually whisk in the 3 egg whites.

2. Add flour a cup at a time until the dough is not sticky but still quite soft. Knead a little if the flour isn’t incorporating well. Make sure the dough is not too stiff and dry.

3. Put into lightly oiled bowl and let it rest for two hours.

4. While dough is resting mix together cheese, onion tops, egg yolks and salt and pepper to taste.


Assembling the Buttons

1. Before assembling, start a large pot of generously salted water to boil. 

2. Take a goodly handful of dough and roll on well floured surface. The dough should be springy and you want to roll it quite thin, but not too thin. A little more than 1/8 inch. The dough usually doesn’t want to roll out all that well, but it will! After it’s rolled, cut into pieces about 3x5 inches. (According to all the little old German ladies, this must not be pretty! Cheese buttons aren’t for looking, they’re for eating.) Just slice up the dough with reckless abandon.

3. Take a heaping spoonful of cheese mixture and place on one side of the dough and with your finger wet the edge of the dough to make a ‘glue’ and fold over sealing the edge. Be careful not to tear through the dough. Then crimp edges with a fork. Lower into boiling water...I let it set on the spoon for a few seconds to kind of cook the top a little and then flip it cooked side down, because otherwise if you just toss them in they WILL stick to the bottom of the pot and then tear and you’ll have all sorts of cheese floaties in your water and not in your buttons (where it belongs!).

4. Let cook for about 10 minutes. Sometimes they float to the top, sometimes they don’t.

5. Drain in colander and then place into oven safe baking dish and drizzle with melted butter so the next layer you add won't stick.

6. Keep warm in oven on low setting while you cook the other buttons. If you do get cheese in the water, you might have to replace it after a while (we usually have two pots going at a time)

7. While boiling the buttons melt butter in cast iron skillet and add torn up bread. Fry the bread up until it’s nice and toasty. Try to not eat all the bread while waiting for the buttons (it’s hard not too). After all your buttons are cooked you can either eat them boiled topped with breadcrumbs and sour cream OR fry them up in more butter and serve with bread and sour cream.

This gorgeous weather has been holding up and Mr. S. and I just wrapped up our 2nd annual big summer BBQ this weekend. We each got to invite a couple of friends and their kidlets over for some eats, drinks and merriment in the backyard on Saturday night. We ended up with around thirty five people and it was great to see everyone intermingling and getting to know each other. It was a good amount of people- enough to make it a party but not too many where it was overwhelming. The dog was on cloud 9 chasing after all the kidlets and getting fed under the table; in fact post-BBQ, he snuggled up against me all tuckered out and his breath reeked overwhelmingly like tri-tip. Bad Pepper-pup! :)  It was a fun time but man was I pooped the next day.

Anyhow, I wanted to have at least one colorful dish on the table that showcased some bright summer veggies from the farmers' market so I decided to make an Israeli couscous salad that I came across on Bon Appetit (* I subbed in some red bell pepper for the frozen green peas to give it some extra pop of color).

Israeli couscous, also called "p'titim", is a tiny pearl shaped, semolina pasta. If you've never cooked with it before- it cooks fast, it's versatile and it's cheap (you can buy a box of it at Trader Joe's for a few bucks and many places sell it in bulk). Give it a whirl!

Israeli Couscous Salad

Ingredients


- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

- 2 large garlic cloves, minced, divided

- 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

- 1 1/3 cups Israeli couscous (6 to 7 ounces)

- 1 3/4 cups (or more) vegetable broth

- 2 1/2 cups slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut diagonally into 3/4-inch pieces

- 2 1/2 cups fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed 

- 1 cup shelled fresh green peas or frozen, thawed

- 1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese


Instructions

- Whisk 2 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, 1 garlic clove, and lemon peel in small bowl; set dressing aside.

- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat.

- Add couscous, sprinkle with salt, and sauté until most of couscous is golden brown, about 5 minutes.

- Add 1 3/4 cups broth, increase heat, and bring to boil.

- Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender, about 10 minutes, adding more broth by tablespoonfuls if too dry.

- Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large nonstick skillet over high heat.

- Add asparagus, sugar snap peas, green peas, and remaining garlic clove.

- Sprinkle with salt and pepper; sauté until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer vegetables to large bowl.

- Add couscous to bowl with vegetables.

- Drizzle dressing over.

- Add chives and cheese; toss.

- Season with salt and pepper.

Awhile back Mr. S. and I made a little weekend getaway to Seattle. It was wonderful. I loved the people, the sights and the food...Sweet Baby Jesus, I loved the food! Paseo, Cascina Spinasse, Salumi...I can't wait until we can hit them up again. I have such fond memories of our meals there. Anyhow, during our visit I bought a few things at Pike Place Market, one of which being some Spicy Red Hot Thai Curry Orzo at the Pappardelle Pasta stand. Since it was a dry good, when I got home I shoved it into my overflowing cabinets at the cottage and promptly forgot about it until this weekend when it clonked me on the head when I was pulling stuff out of the cupboard. I decided to take it over to Mr. S.'s casa and cook it up as a side salad to our dinner. I've cooked orzo before but not this particular flavored orzo so I decided to play it safe and use the recipe that they have posted on their website. At the market they sell the pastas by weight and I had only purchased 1/2 a pound so I halved the recipe below. The dish turned out well but Mamma Mia! Man, it was spiiiiiiiiiiicy! If you like spicy you'll love it but I'm a bit of a wuss so I don't think I'll be buying that flavor again. I did like their pasta product though, so maybe I'll try a different orzo next time. They also make a variety of flat cut pasta, lasagna noodles and gluten-free pasta via their website: Pappardelle's Pasta that look interesting.


Spicy Shrimp Curry Thai Peanut Orzo Salad


Ingredients
 
1 lb. Pappardelle's Spicy Red Hot Thai Curry Orzo

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

3 tablespoons warm water

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Asian (toasted) sesame oil

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

2-4 cloves garlic, minced, salt to taste

1 lb. Large Shrimp, peeled, deveined & cooked

2 small cucumbers, peeled, seeded & sliced very thin diagonally (I left these out as Mr. S. is not too keen on the cukes)

3 small green onions, sliced very thin diagonally
 
 
Instructions
 
- Cook orzo in 6-8 quarts of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente (about 8-10 minutes). Drain, rinse under cold water, drain thoroughly and set aside in a large bowl.

- Whisk peanut butter and water in a small bowl until completely smooth. Then whisk in soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, garlic and salt. Toss with the pasta, cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

- Just before serving, add in shrimp, toss again, transfer to a serving bowl, and garnish the top with the cucumber and green onion.

The Japanese have a term for the slurping noise one makes when savoring a noodle dish, it’s called, “tsuru-tsuru.” Making slurping noises is recognized to be a good thing and encouraged in Japanese culture. It’s considered a way to convey your appreciation of the meal to your host. In Japan, noodles symbolize “longevity,” and are eaten quite a bit. In addition, they’re eaten on New Year Eve to symbolize the passing of the old year and beginning of the new year (called toshikoshi).

One of my favorite Japanese noodle dishes is zaru soba (which means “basket” noodle). Zaru soba consists of cold buckwheat noodles served with a mild dipping sauce (tsuyu) and various garnishes (yakumi). It’s a refreshing, classic summer dish that cools you down quickly on a hot day and takes minimal effort to prepare. You can make your own tsuyu (from dashi stock, mirin and soy sauce) but I prefer to keep a bottled of premade tsuyu in my fridge. You can buy the premade tsuyus in concentrated and unconcentrated versions; if you buy the concentrated version, be sure to dilute the base before using it.




Ingredients

1 bottle of chilled soba tsuyu (somen tsuyu works too)

9.5 oz. package of soba noodles

Your choice of condiments:

Thinly sliced green onions

Toasted sesame seeds

Nori ( dried seaweed), cut into matchstick sized strips

Grated ginger

Grated wasabi

Chopped shiso  (perilla)


Instructions

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. (Do not salt the water.)

2. Once water is boiling, place the dry noodles gently into the pot.

3. Stir gently with chopsticks to separate the noodles so that they do not clump and to make sure they are all fully immersed.

4. Bring the water back to a boil then set it to simmer.

5. Check your noodle package for how long to cook your noodles; the time varies according to brand. On average, it’s usually about 4-7 minutes.

6. Test a strand. It should be firm yet tender.

7. Remove the pot from the stove and transfer the noodles to a colander. Drain the hot water.

8. Place the noodles under a steady stream of cold water to stop the cooking process and wash the starch off. (Don’t skip this step, it does have an impact on the taste of the noodles.)

9. Use your fingers to swish around the noodles and wash them well.

10. Drain. Then place a small bundle of noodles on a bamboo mat, tray or flat sieve. I have small, plastic “colander/basket bowls” that I like to use. This allows excess water to drain away.

11. Pour one cup of tsuyu per person for dipping.

12. Place a small amount of noodles in tsuyu, garnish with whichever condiments you prefer and finally…sluuuurp!

13. Repeat until satiated.